Influence of Internal Defects on the Fatigue Life of Steel and Aluminum Alloys in the VHCF Range

This chapter concerns the influence of internal defects (i.e. nonmetallic inclusions, secondary phases and cast defects) on the fatigue lifetime of steel and aluminum alloys in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) and very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime. The detrimental effect of internal defects depends on multiple factors such as size, morphology, chemical composition, test temperature or position in the material. Specimens were tested after active and/or reactive melt filtration processes of the materials which served to influence the amount and size distribution of internal defects. Fatigue experiments up to 109 cycles were carried out using ultrasonic fatigue testing equipment. In addition, in situ methods, as e.g. full surface view thermography and acoustic emission (AE), were applied to study the processes of crack initiation and propagation, which finally lead to fatigue failure. Furthermore, the cyclically strained samples were subjected to fractographic analysis and the S–N-curves were discussed according to the characteristics of the crack-initiating defects. Based on these investigations, an enhanced knowledge about the correlation of internal defects on the materials’ fatigue strength enables a specific melt filtration strategy adjusted to the materials’ service conditions.